AS the public sector comes under intense scrutiny from cost-cutters one veteran says civil servants work much harder than many people might think.
Charlene O’Connor recalls that 13 years in increasingly big jobs in Scottish Enterprise left her feeling in need of a good break.
“I took a little bit of time to myself which was nice because believe it or not working, people have a view of the public sector that you’ re a nine to five person and it’s an easy ride: Is it heck. I mean, I worked long hours. There was never a weekend I didn’t have a briefcase of papers to read, it was full on.”
Ms O’Connor ended up senior director for skills at Scottish Enterprise running a department with 1400 staff. She left in 2008.
After working on property projects she was prompted to take a fresh entrepreneurial turn in 2011 following a call from Kevin Moore, a chemicals industry expert she knew from a spell running the old Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley.
“He said what are you doing with yourself, you’ve had enough time doing nothing.”
A lunch meeting followed with Mr Moore and hopefuls Owen Barrett and Stephen Grieve who had founded a firm they thought could take the motoring world by storm.
The business, Engym Services, worked with Glasgow Caledonian University to develop technology that could boost the efficiency of diesel engines reducing consumption and emissions by removing particulates.
By the end of the meal US-born Ms O’Connor had decided to join the firm as chief executive.
“I know nothing about engines but what excited me was the passion around the table and the desire to make this work; the belief that what we had was something that was needed.”
The decision marked the start of a journey of discovery that has left the 54-year-old as enthusiastic as ever about the technology despite facing some big challenges.
“My job was to take what was an idea into a form you could take to market and make a business around … that’s what I’ve been doing the last three years,” she observes, adding: “It’s been a real roller coaster I would not deny it. Moving from a big corporate with all the departments to a small company where you don’t have any of that.”
The work involved raising around £300,000 funding. This helped Engym develop a machine called AuTone which removes deposits that have built up on cars’ fuel system components and an additive, FuelTone, that improves fuel combustion.
Ms O’Connor had to find customers, a task which involved cold-calling lots of garages in the hope of persuading them to house AuTone machines. Two have signed up so far, in Crieff and Edinburgh.
She agreed distribution deals for FuelTone covering around 200 stockists. Oil services entrepreneur Robbie Gray’s Cairndon signed up in August.
The work has been fraught at times.
“Developing products is hard work. At times you do think you will never see light at the end of the tunnel.”
The darkest hour came in February when the firm was left facing potential insolvency after efforts to raise further equity failed.
Ms O’Connor says directors had no choice but to put Engym Services into administration.
However, her faith in the potential of the products it offered are undiminished. People have shown real interest in the idea of products that could be used on petrol cars.
She was pleased that AuTone and FuelTone recently won a vote of condidence from Robbie Gray, who agreed to buy the technology from the administrator.
Subject to the deal completing, Ms O’Connor will work with Mr Gray to try to realise the potential both see for the products to win a big following at home and abroad.
Ms O’Connor says the fall in fuel costs triggered by the slump in the crude price has not diminished the appeal of products that can still help firms make big savings on transport costs.
She says she has no desire to return to the public sector but takes evident pride in her achievements at Scottish Enterprise, which has an important role to play in boosting economic activity.
The daughter of an entrepreneurial joiner who set up a building business in Scotland after working in the States, Ms O’Connor got a degree in biological sciences from Edinburgh’s Napier University.
She went on to work in pharmaceuticals then moved into the public sector in a business consulting role at Napier university following a five year break to look after her two children.
Her career in the Scottish Enterprise network began with skills development work at the old Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise.
“What I knew about economic development would not have filled many pages.”
Ms O’Connor found she really enjoyed working for an agency she felt could make a big difference.
She is proud to have played a leading part in developing the PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) approach to responding to mass redundancy situations after 5,000 people lost their jobs at the Motorola and NEC electricals plants in West Lothian in 2001.
The enterprise agency and partner organisations such as Careers Scotland went out to plants and set up facilities on site to talk to people. The media followed every move.
“But it was a tremendous success. We were set a target of 95 per cent redeployment within 12 months and we did it in six.”
Having had dealings with SE as a recipient of support services at Engym, Ms O’Connor reckons the agency is doing a better job than some coverage suggests.
“They are fair game. It’s easy to take pot shots but it’s not an easy job they are doing,” she says, noting that budgets are nothing like they used to be.
“Could they do more if they had more resources? They probably could.”
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